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December 4, 2007

The Rare "Good" Penalty

BALTIMORE -- Normally, an offensive lineman drawing a penalty on 4th-and-1 for moving before the snap would be embarrassed and upset.
Especially if it happened in the fourth quarter, with time running out, his team trailing, and the game on the line.
But Russ Hochstein and his New England teammates were relieved when the veteran right guard was called for illegal motion at the Ravens' 30 with 1:48 left to play and Baltimore leading, 24-20.
That's because Pats fullback Heath Evans was dropped for the loss of a yard on the play, which was nullified because Hochstein had moved before the snap.
"Any time you get a false-start penalty, it's not good," said Hochstein, who's in his seventh NFL season.
"Normally," he said, "that's a terrible spot for that to happen. But it worked out, because we made a play on the next down."
The Patriots picked up the crucial first down on 4th-and-6 when QB Tom Brady, unable to find an open receiver, scrambled out of the pocket and ran for 12 yards."
Helped by another fourth-down penalty -- this time on Baltimore, for holding tight end Ben Watson in the end zone -- the Patriots were able to score the game-winning touchdown on an 8-yard pass from Brady to Jabar Gaffney with 44 seconds to go.
"We kept making play after play and kept our hopes alive," Hochstein said. "Finally we were able to score."

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 2:07 AM to Russ Hochstein | Permalink